


Possible

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Little Bit Domestic, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Civil War (Marvel), little bit angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 17:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6762889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Civil War spoilers, contained within. Very broad-strokes, but some plot/character details revealed for sure.</p><p>"No matter what he builds, there are some rooms he can never walk back into. Say what he needs to say. Change the trajectory of something, if even everything else that comes after is unavoidable. This room is reachable, he thinks. Maybe."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Possible

**Author's Note:**

> I've somehow never particularly put a lot of thought into this pairing, and I was Team Cap all the way through the film, but somhow that last scene with Rhodey doing PT & Tony? It just got me screaming 'now kiss' very silently in the theatre. And then I wrote this on my phone. Because feels.  
> Yay?  
> (Only barely edited.)

ed.It's later in the day, well into the evening. Tony's in one of the living rooms, a cosy one, sitting in an armchair. The tv is off. Rhodey is on the sofa, his chair parked beside it on one side, Tony's armchair on the other. Nothing really happening, but that's... Good, he thinks. There's been too much.

His thoughts wont shut up, though. Everything is the kind of quiet that means his mouth is about to catch up with the thoughts. They keep jumbling, and instead of 'hey, want more stirfry?', what pops out is,  
"I'm glad that mail came when it did."

Crap.

"Oh, yeah, Tony Stank?" An eyebrow raise, a smile.

Then Tony can't help but smile, because it's expected, because, god, he wants to, in response of Rhodey's. "Never gonna let that one go, are you?"

"Not going anywhere else right now, am I?" That's gentler than it has any right to be.

Tony's mouth thins, because. There's a reason for that. "Guess not. Anyway. I'm glad it... I mean. It was some necessary, perspective? I guess."

"What'd he say?" Rhodey asks, lifting his head a little.

Tony flaps a hand. "What? Oh. You know. About what I expected. More than I deserved, and totally unfair, in this really annoying combination. Lot of stuff, really. And part of him, maybe he was right. Maybe he wasn't. But no, it wasn't about the letter, letter. Not the content. Or. The rest of it. I'll... Process that emotionally, later. Probably very badly. Not as bad as I already did try to process it. So. Everything pretty much on the upswing in terms of that. Still. Not really the point. It was more, just. Timing. Of things. Probably for the best. The interruption. What you were saying about it being worth the fight, that. Um. Got to me, a little."

"Yeah?" Rhodey leans over a little, twisting to face Tony.

"I... I messed up, Rhodey. Maybe it was worth it, but hell, I keep doing this. Everything. So much, and I can't stop. Because I want to. Make things better, but usually I dont. Or cant. That's why... Someone else was supposed to stop me, and then this wouldnt happen. I wouldnt lose anyone else because I did the wrong thing, or worse, because I did the right one. Something would intervene before I took that step. Like then. With the letter coming in the mail. Finally got that. From, I dunno. The universe. Or the mailman. Either or."

"Tony?" Rhodey asks, looking a little sad, a little concerned. Curious, too. More caring than is armed.

Tony's eyes widen, his brain having just caught up with his mouth, this time. "Forget it. Stirfry? More stirfry?"

He moves to get up. Rhodey catches his hand. "You said you were gonna do something. What were you gonna do this time?"

His hand is. Warm. That's good. Probably. It's nice. Better than he deserves, and that's the crux of the matter, isnt it?

"Something really dumb. Probably would've, you know. Fucked everything up. In terms of. I don't have a great track record, is all."

"Tony, after the shitstorm of the last few weeks, you know where I am?" Rhodey says, patiently. Still touching his hand. Which. Huh.

"Um. Here?" His voice is hesitant, more than he meant it to be. It was supposed to come out a joke. Instead it felt more like wonder, at that. That Rhodey is still. Here.

Rhodey smiles a little. "Yeah. Right here. Just like, eventually, all the other times you did something stupid. So. Take that for what it's worth."

"See, um. That's the thing. It's worth. Kind of a lot. Which is why I was gonna, but. I'm not. So. Ignore this conversation, okay?" Tony pulls his hand away, trying not to mourn the loss of contact.

The stir fry is in the kitchen. He reheats two bowls, mechanically. Staring off into space.

He wants. But that's never ends well, is the thing. Never has, because what he thinks he wants, is usually a bad idea, or not what he really wanted, anyway, and it blows up in this face. Sometimes that's fixable. Sometimes it isnt. Sometimes it's fixable, until he breaks it again, and again, until it isnt. And all he has left are the pieces. The shrapnel stuck in his heart, in a more metaphorical sense.

But honestly, fuck metaphors like that. Fuck everything. His life is a big ball of 'fuck it', so what's another bit, right? Maybe he gets to have that.

No matter what he builds, there are some rooms he can never walk back into. Say what he needs to say. Change the trajectory of something, if even everything else that comes after is unavoidable. This room is reachable, he thinks. Maybe.  
So that's that. Isn't it. He's back in the living room. Drops the bowls of stir fry in front on them. Stands beside the couch. Announces. "I think I was going to kiss you."

Rhodey drops the fork he had just picked up. "Oh."

Shit. There Tony goes again. Another point of no return in his life.

He picked this one, though. Fairly consciously, for a decision made in the span of a microwaving. And maybe it won't end up like the others.

"Before the mail came. So. Like I said. Glad the mail came. Interrupted that thought pattern before it went all inconvenient and became... Action, or something. Derailed. Just like that. "

He's leaning down, despite himself, though. Looking at Rhodey. Who, somehow, is still looking back.

"You were gonna kiss me?"

"Um." Tony says. He probably should not have said anything about that. It's just... Normally he'd. Someone else. But there isnt anyone, other than Rhodey. To talk about Rhodey. At the moment. And he's too tired to even carry on with the usual emotional suppression scheme. It's generally on automatic pilot, like a fire suppression system, but he's just too raw for that. And for avoiding mixing metaphors in his own head.

"You're just... Kind of a fixed point. In my life. Despite. Everything. And I've lost a lot of those, so you being one, still. That's. More important to me than I realized. More than I probably ever earned, but... I realized. Was all. Seemed like a good idea. Obviously in hindsight..."

"Still a good idea, actually." Rhodey blurts out, looking almost surprised at himself as Tony feels.

"I mean. Yeah. Timing's a bit. Weird. And. We probably need to. Talk a lot more, about a lot of things. Deal with stuff, better. Put in a whole lotta effort into laying out a framework. If this is gonna work. Because okay, like you said. A lot that we can screw up. Lot that's already screwed up, though. But. I meant what I said, about it being worth the fight, before. And we've made it this far on things. You know? So. Maybe it could work with that, at some point." Rhodey nods, speculatively. "Yeah. I think it makes sense."

"Oh." Toby says, a little stunned. He's still pretty close to Rhodey. But Rhodey had said 'not yet'. So Tony just, hovers for a second. Bends the rules a little, because for all he's trying to learn, he's never really known when not to push it. Brushing lips across the other man's cheek. It's rough. Nice. Even nicer. He's kissed a lot people but.

Rhodey looks at him, crookedly, as he pulls away, and picks up the dropped fork. Tony sits down, too. Eats his stirfry, and Rhodey eats his, and they watch a dumb movie.

They don't talk much, but the silence is better now. It's not too loud. Not too much. It just... Is.

It feels like something that's. Possible. Something he can do. They can do.

The rest of the world will happen tomorrow, and the day after, and he still has so much to carry, so much to make up for.

But. Yeah. Possible.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm dubiousculturalartifact on tumblr, @DubiousCA on twitter, and I also absolutely adore comments, if you feel like that.


End file.
